Then the blackness reached out for him.
It swarmed up over Eli's arms and over his shoulder. The child's smile faded just as the blackness covered his head and he was lifted off the ground and vanished through the surface of the mirror.
No scream.
Nothing.
Just a strange humming sound inside Whitten's head. After a moment he realized it was the sound of the Void.
Pleased with itself.
Whitten wanted to run. He had a room in the back with a cot and it had never seemed more inviting than right now. His feet would not move. The Void, using its invisible strings buried so far into his mind, held him where he was. It wanted a witness.
It took about half an hour. Whitten's bladder felt like it was going to burst, but finally something happened. The familiar thick black substance oozed from the mirror where it formed into a puddle. The top of it was shiny and reflective and Whitten could see the lights overhead and his own dim reflection. When the pool was just a few feet across, it stopped flowing outward and began to extend upward.
As Whitten watched, the blackness stretched up and began to form features: hands, eyes, nose, face. The blackness changed to flesh-color and he saw individual hair forming over the head. In seconds there was Eli, his head down, formed entirely out of Void-substance.
The skin shimmered and changed, became more and more real-looking. When it was virtually identical to the young man who had been standing here, this new Eli raised his head.
Whitten gasped.
The child had no eyes. There were just black pits where the eyes should have been. This new Eli smiled and the smile grew and grew, past the nose and up the sides of his face. It was the most disturbing thing that Whitten had seen.
"What do you think?" Eli asked, but in the Void's voice.
"It's remarkable," Whitten replied, hoping that his voice sounded a bit more steady than he felt. "The eyes are not quite right. Nor the smile."
The smile faded. He looked at himself in the mirror. Eli's face changed to one of frustration and then total concentration. The eyes flickered and flowed as if they were constructed out of water. No matter how hard it tried, the eyes remained black pits with tiny swirls of red near the center.
"I cannot get the eyes right," Eli/Void said.
Then it heaved his hand back and smashed it into the mirror. The surface shook and quaked, but did not shatter.
"No matter what I do, I cannot get the eyes right," it repeated.
Whitten watched as the Void/Eli creature stormed around the lab, smashing the table, throwing instruments, smashing anything and everything that it could find. Then it stormed back to the mirror and tried to get the eyes right again. When that failed, the Eli/Void form collapsed into black goo and snaked back into the mirror.
"Bring me more," the Void said. "Bring me more children."
Whitten felt something twisting in his gut, but what was he to do?
"It shall be done," he replied.
***
For the next several years Whitten moved from one concentration camp to another. The experiments continued. He fed dozens and dozens of children into the mirror. They learned a lot, but met with little success.
Infecting someone like Whitten did not create the kind of puppet or offspring the Void wanted. Despite Whitten's willingness to be the Void's slave, he had lived too long on his own. No matter what the Void did, his consciousness could not be entirely wiped.
The Void could suck the children into its dimension and create three-dimensional versions of humans. However, they were not convincing. It could control them, but the avatars were slow. The Void was getting better at creating more avatars, but all of them had black eyes and their movements were not quite right. One of the things they soon discovered is that if one of the black-eyed children touched someone, they would be transported into the Void dimension and absorbed. A rather startling discovery was that when it pushed through into this dimension to create avatars it did not cause much damage to the dimensional walls. That allowed the Void to create avatars, but not raise the awareness of IDEA. Exactly why this was they did not know, nor did it care much.
That left the one thing that the Void wanted; to find some way to impregnate a human woman and give birth to someone that would be a total Void/human hybrid. It felt that this true offspring would be something or someone that could ultimately gain control of this dimension.
They needed to find the right person. Someone that had something they had yet to discover that would allow that impregnation to happen without killing the mother. Right now, the experiments were continuing with human women, trying various blood types, personal histories, hair styles and colors. They tried everything and every variation that they could think of. Nothing was working.
The war, meanwhile, was not going well for the Axis powers. Hitler had killed himself and the Allied troops were just down the road. Whitten was in his lab, trying to get as many experiments done as he could, but the soldiers were close.
He stood in his lab, studying his notes when the voice came from behind.
"Hello, Augustus."
Whitten looked up and felt something crawling up his spine. He knew that voice, even though he had not heard from it in a long time.
"Hello, Ezekiel," he said, turning around. "A little out of your jurisdiction, aren't we?"
"We're international now," Ezekiel said.
Ezekiel looked a bit older. He was wearing the green army fatigues familiar to Whitten from the Allied soldiers. He even had a green helmet over his head. Cradled in his arms was a machine gun of some sort. Nothing like what the soldiers carried, somehow more sinister.
"Armed, I see," Whitten said.
"You've had free reign to do a lot of damage," Ezekiel said. "That time has now ended. I am here to end them. I would prefer it if you come with me and the other members of the IDEA team that are here. We can talk, perhaps."
Whitten smiled. "Very amusing. Yes, perhaps we can go for coffee in downtown Berlin. Oh, that's right, there's very little of downtown Berlin left anymore, is there? Perhaps we should visit Dresden. Oh, that's right, there is definitely not much of that city left. You have done a remarkable job destroying this country."
"I have not been bombing anyone," Ezekiel replied. "IDEA has been working with the governments of the world to find people like you. There are a lot of you these days. We stop you from bringing down the barriers. We stop the Void where he is."
Whitten nodded and sighed. "I see. You are still determined to stop progress."
"Progress? What progress? You have been feeding human beings to the Void for years now. What progress has been made?"
Whitten shook his head. "Look at this world. Look at this war. Look what it has done to most of the planet, Ezekiel. What would happen if the Void took over this dimension? What if everyone were part of it, thinking one thought. It does not wish to destroy this dimension. It wants to take it over. It has special properties that even we do not understand. We want to take over, become part of the Void, but maintain our independence. If we were all part of the Void, there would be no more wars. There would be no more hunger, or death."
Ezekiel snorted. "Right, at the cost of our humanity, our souls. What kind of fool do you take me for, Whitten?"
"The kind that would stand here and talk to me instead of just shooting me?" Whitten asked.
Ezekiel gave him a puzzled expression and then he whirled around. Behind him the hallway had filled with black-eyed children. Blond, brown-haired, brunette, redheads, boys and girls. All of them staring at Ezekiel with their dark pits instead of eyes and their arms outstretched. Whitten could tell that his longtime foe was puzzled as to where they came from. Oh, the Void was getting good, could create them almost anywhere. Before long the Void would be able to get around IDEA’s machines so that they could literally form everywhere.
"Help us, Ezekiel," they said in unison. The pitches of each of their voices differed depending on the child. "We've lost our parents. Can
you help us?"
"What unholy creatures have you created, Augustus?" Ezekiel said, backing away from the hands that grasped for him.
"Just let them touch you, Ezekiel, and it will all be over."
Whitten laughed, spinning on his heels and ran to the back of the lab. He grabbed the mirror, the surface covered by the blanket, and tucked it under his arm like he had done so many times before. There was a back entrance to this place and he ran there now. Behind him gunfire unlike anything he had heard before erupted, followed by the sickening splatter of the black substance that the black-eyed children were comprised of.
Whitten pushed through the hidden door and ran up the short set of stairs. On the surface there was more gunfire. This was followed by yelling and screaming, some of it in German and some in English. Overhead there was the hideous sound of airplanes flying low and laying down machine gun fire. Something was burning off to the right, some kind of low building used to house prisoners, and Whitten saw thin arms and hands locked inside reaching and grasping for anything that might save them. He jumped over the body of a German soldier, his head burst apart like some kind of overripe fruit, and ran on. He realized what a fool he looked like with his mirror tucked under his arm as he ran, but nothing was going to stop him. As he ran, he saw more and more black-eyed children emerging from nothing, flanking him, surrounding him, touching anyone that got near him or in his way.
Whitten could see woods in the distance. The air was filled with smoke and the smells of blood, feces and burning flesh. Hell, if it did exist, was not the oblivion of the Void, but this right here. This is what he had to stop. This would all stop when the Void and his offspring controlled the world. Then the dimensional barriers could come down and the Void could become more powerful, all-powerful, and stop this in all dimensions.
As he reached the battered section of the fence that held the mangled bodies of several soldiers hung on barbed wire, he heaved himself over with a single leap. He had never felt stronger. The ground shook as something exploded. He saw tracer bullets fly past him, but none touched him.
Then, he was in the woods, the sound of the war behind him. Someone was screaming his name, and he thought it might have been Ezekiel. He smiled.
No, Ezekiel, he thought, it is not my time yet. I have so much more to do.
Chapter Nineteen
For years Whitten traveled the globe. He found places to conduct his experiments, but when women started to vanish, he was always found. No matter how much he and the Void tried to steer clear of IDEA, they always found him and Ezekiel was always there. He came close, so many times, to being caught, but he always had a way out.
Whitten set up shop in a barn outside of Chicago in the late 50s. Once again he was doing his experiments. In what little spare time he had, he also continued his radio experiments. So far he had never been able to get through to other dimensions beyond his discussions with the Void.
He was in the barn, the mirror covered, the table cleaned off, his last experiment long turned into black goo that had vanished with the wind. He was despondent, tired, and was fiddling with the dials on the various radio equipment when the sound of a vehicle pulling up to the house caught his attention.
He raised his head and looked around. The barn doors were open to try and air the place out. There was always an odd rotten-egg stench after the woman turned into blackness.
"Hello?"
It was a male voice, but it was not Ezekiel. Whitten got to his feet and went to the door of the barn. There was a young man on the front lawn. Behind him was a truck and on the side of the truck was the logo for the local telephone service.
"Who is that?"
It was the Void speaking inside his head. The voice must have stirred him, as well.
"A phone guy," Whitten said.
"There is something odd about him," Void said.
This conversation took place entirely in his head. He and the Void were now virtually the same entity. Whitten was never alone anymore. The Void was always there, seeing through his eyes, hearing his thoughts, hearing through his ears. Augustus had just gotten used to it over time.
"What about him?"
"There is something different about him. I have touched him before somehow. There is something of the Void within him."
Whitten had no idea what that meant, but it was intriguing. It was the first time the Void had been interested in anyone else in a very long time.
"Hello there!" Whitten called, waving his arm over his head and smiling what he hoped was a pleasant smile. "Can I help you?"
He stepped out of the barn and closed the door behind him. He wiped his hands with a rag that he kept tucked into his belt. The young man, with his thinning blond hair, long nose and pleasant smile, walked toward him. This young man wore a toolbelt low on his hips that jingled and jangled as he walked.
"How are you, friend?" the young man asked, extending his hand.
Whitten grasped the hand and felt a strange jolt. That was the Void, reading the man almost immediately with that one touch. He had a strong grip.
"What brings you here?" Whitten asked.
"I'm with the phone company," the young man said. "There was a storm here the other night and most of the phone lines were down. So, I was sent out to check and see if the connections had been restored. Have you used your phone?"
Whitten looked around as if he had never noticed his house or the telephone lines before. "Um, no," he said, "I don't have much use for a phone. However, you are welcome to come in and check. I guess it always pays to have a working phone. You never know, right?"
The young man smiled. "That's right. OK. I'll climb up the telephone pole first and check it out there. Then I can come inside."
"My name's Augustus, by the way," Whitten said extending his hand in a more formal manner. "I'm new to these parts."
The young men grasped Whitten's hand and shook it for the second time. "My name is Albert. Albert Hoeffner. Pleasure to meet you."
Whitten smiled and then stepped back allowing Albert to go about his business.
"He's the one," the Void said into his mind. "I cannot fathom how he and I have met before, but we have. He has part of me inside of him. He has to be the one, Augustus. He has to be."
***
So began Augustus Whitten's befriending of Albert Hoeffner. He made iced tea for the young man that afternoon and invited him into the home to check the phone and partake of the tea. Albert was warm, friendly and smart. The young man had ambitions that went beyond climbing telephone poles, although the job paid well.
Whitten played the innocent. He told Albert that he was an inventor, working primarily for the government, so that most of his experiments were not something that he could show Albert. Albert seemed to accept that. Whitten also pretended that he knew nothing about the area, but that he deeply cared to find out. In reality, he could have cared less if his lab was on the moon or the middle of the desert.
Soon, Albert and Whitten were seen about town. They went to dinner. Whitten met Albert's girlfriend, Katherine. She was a nice girl with curly dark hair and a devilish smile, but Whitten had little interest in her beyond the most cursory. Whitten and Albert met up for lunch, breakfast, and then for drinks.
Whitten hated alcohol. He did not like the taste and he hated what it did to his mind. He never wanted his senses dulled. However, the Void felt that by getting Albert drinking, he might lower his guard and start talking. The Void wanted to know how he had become infected with the Void substance that it could detect within the man.
So, on a Friday night, after Albert had gotten off of work, Whitten found himself in some local dive. It was a tiny place, built on to the front of a house. A narrow bar along one wall, the smell of beer and piss, old rickety tables and chairs and a television perched on the wall on a stand that looked ready to collapse. A snowy baseball game was on, but he could have cared less.
They ordered. When Albert got up to use the restroom, Whitten added a drug to his
drink. When Albert got back, they kept drinking. Whitten nursed his beer for as long as he could, abhorring the taste, but he kept the booze flowing down Albert. When he was particularly sloshed, Whitten felt the Void in his mind urging him on.
"I bet you see some strange things on this job," Whitten said, attempting to sound more inebriated than he was. "You head out into the woods and wilderness for people like me. I bet you see all kinds of things."
Albert smiled a weird, watery smile. "Oh, you better believe it Augustus. I've seen all kinds of things."
"Really?" Whitten looked around the bar as if checking to make sure no one was listening. "What's the scariest or weirdest thing you've seen?"
Albert rocked back in his chair and thought for a moment. "Well, I have seen old ladies naked and weird kids running around with skinned cats, but the weirdest thing happened about two years back," he recited.
Whitten leaned forward. Inside his mind the Void was prodding him on, almost leaping about in excitement. It was like having a hyperactive child running around in his brain.
Albert told his tale.
***
I was sent out to check the phone line of a guy named Walter Crimson. Strange name, right? Yeah, anyway, he was a legendary weird guy who lived way outside of town. In a huge house that was right out of a spooky story and I was the only one who didn't believe the nonsense about ghosts and demons and what-not.
So, I get in the truck. It's the night shift. I work that sometimes. Anyway, I head out there with my tools and the truck is running right. However, as I get into the driveway of the place, the truck suddenly stalls. The lights go out and the engine just dies.
Well, shit. What am I going to do now? Now I have to get this guy's phone running right so that I can call someone to come pick me up.
I get out of the truck and right away things are weird. The air felt colder up there. The wind felt stronger. There was something crying or cawing in the distance, but it wasn't anything I had ever heard before. I've heard geese and loons on the lakes, but nothing like this. Chilled me. I was starting to have thoughts about ghosts when I turned around and suddenly there's Mr. Crimson himself standing right there in the driveway next to me. It was like he had just appeared.
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